Only In My Darkest Hour
by teresa
Summary: This is just a little one-shot I came up with one day. Spike and Faye are forced to spend some time alone after a mission goes way off course.


This is…this is what happens when I want some sugar and I want it right away.  But…since it's Spike and Faye, it's never that simple, so we'll just let this little one-shot run it's course and see how things go.  It's like, a personal challenge!  In one chapter, can I stop them arguing long enough for them to be cute?  We'll see!

*****

Only In My Darkest Hour

*****

"Go around, I got this end covered!" Spike waved his gun at his partner, a sensual looking woman with short dark hair and deep green eyes.

"Why do I always have to go around?" Faye hissed, narrowing her eyes before speeding ahead so that she could do as he said despite her complaints.  She might not like the way Spike ordered her around, but the middle of a hunt was no time to bring that issue up.  "Next time, he's running in high heels.  See if he ever makes me go the long way again…God, I hope I miss this guy and shoot him in the leg instead…"  At that moment, she heard footfalls approaching her quickly, and a voice that sounded suspiciously like Spike.

"He's coming your way!" he yelled through the inky dark of the drifting spaceship.

"Thanks a lot, mom." Faye grumbled, cocking her gun and getting ready, her eyes trying desperately to connect some shape to the sounds she heard coming closer and closer.  Just then, she caught a glimpse of a man running toward her, barely five feet away, and without hesitation, she fired.

"Fuck!" a man hissed in the dark, and Faye's face instantly fell seconds before her victim tackled her beneath him, growling in a voice that confirmed her suspicions.  She'd shot the wrong guy.  Now she'd never hear the end of it.  "Dammit, Faye, what the hell do you think I am?"

"You _said_ he was coming right at me!  What was I supposed to think?" Faye angrily struggled from under his body.  "Stay here, I'll get him."

"Like hell you will." Spike grumbled, pulling at her arm as he tried to stand up himself.  "Dammit, that fucking hurt."

"Stop whining so we can finish this and get out of here." Faye hissed back at him.

"Well I don't know where the hell he is now!" Spike was beyond upset.  "You fucking let him get away!"

"So did you!" Faye shot back.  "And you know, it doesn't help that we can't see shit in this piece of junk."

"At least I didn't shoot you, genius." He growled, limping forward slightly.

"Whatever, you've been shot so many times I doubt you can even feel it anymore." Faye rolled her eyes, edging forward with him.  "Hey…do you hear that?" she asked suddenly, stopping and cocking her head to hear more clearly.

"Hear what?" Spike paused, muttering some unintelligible curses as he too heard the noise of the engines starting outside.  "We gotta catch 'em, come on!" and with that, they both broke into a run, though a slightly hesitant one due to the fact that they could barely see where they were going.

"Next time…I'm bringing a flashlight." Faye huffed as they made their way back the way they'd come to where they'd docked their ships inside this larger, dead craft.

"Oh fuck." Spike's breath left him in those two words and Faye suddenly looked around to see what was wrong.  Their ships were missing.

"Now what?"  Faye asked.  She didn't really care what that stupid man had to say, but she had no clue what to do at that point.

"Well, when we don't check in, Jet will get suspicious and he'll check it out." Spike told her.  "So until then, we wait."

"We wait?" Faye asked, obviously let down by his words.  "That's your plan?  To wait?"

"It's not like we have a choice." He reminded her.  "Don't get all fucking worked up about it."

"I'm not." Faye huffed.  "I'm just pissed that we went through all this shit and we lost our bounties and our ships."

"Don't worry.  We can get the ships back." Spike rolled his eyes at her.  "Now since we have to wait together, would you mind not talking anymore?"

"Why the hell not?" Faye was incensed immediately.

"Cause you're fucking annoying." Spike told her.  "If I have to listen to you for that long, I wish you woulda just shot me in the head."

"How long are we gonna be stuck here for?" Faye asked after an angry silence.

"Hard to say." She heard a rustling noise as Spike settled down to the ground, looking through his pockets for a cigarette before finally finding his pack and lighting one up, creating a strange red glow around the stick in his mouth.  "Could be a day, could be a week."

"A week!" Faye shrieked in disbelief.  "No way!"

"Shut up, woman." Spike sighed heavily, and Faye almost thought she heard him hiss as he leaned back slowly.  "You're pissing me off again, and I don't think I should have to put up with it after you fucking shot me."

"I didn't fucking see you!" Faye was overly frustrated with the whole situation, and it showed easily.  Spike reached into his jacket and silently offered her a cigarette.  She sat feeling foolish for a few moments before she slowly took it.  "Thanks." She mumbled.  Allowing him to light the small stick, she dragged on it heavily, as though she expected it's toxic fumes to make her world simple again.  "Should we…um…where did I shoot you, exactly?"

"Where were you aiming?" Spike asked her.

"I was aiming…for a knee." She admitted sheepishly.  She knew that she must have missed or Spike would have found it nearly impossible to stand, whether he hobbled around or not.  "For your right knee."

"You have piss poor aim." He told her simply.  "You hit my left thigh.  I think the bullet's still in there."

"Well…don't we need to treat it and get the bullet out?" Faye rose expectantly.

"Can't do it without light." Spike told her just as easily.  "And for someone with your aim, this is _not_ enough light." He gestured with his cigarette.

"You know what, you should be _glad_ I missed!  Plus, you know how fucking hard it is to hit a moving target when it's pitch black?" She snapped at him.

"Not when it's five feet from you, useless bitch." Spike told her.  "Don't worry about my fucking leg.  If the bullet's still in there, I may just pass out pretty soon, and that's what I'm hoping for."

"Why?" Faye asked, not believing that someone could actually want to leave their injuries untreated.

"Then I won't have to listen to your fucking mouth." Spike informed her calmly.

"Gods!  You're such an asshole, you know that?" Faye stormed off, and Spike turned his full attention back to his cigarette.

"Stupid woman." He grumbled slightly.  "Don't come back."

----------

"Stupid fucking Spike." Faye grumbled as she put the last of her findings in the makeshift parcel she had formed from an emergency blanket.  She knew that if she looked hard enough, there'd be something useful on this God forsaken shit heap, but it had taken some time to find in the dark.  "I should just leave him there." She looked down at her glow stick, sure that Spike wouldn't be able to insult her anymore once she brought back her booty.

"He should feel lucky I'm so fucking forgiving." Faye pulled the parcel over her shoulder and began to head back the way she'd come, using a light to guide her easily this time.  The whole way back she grumbled and cursed about Spike's unfair treatment of her, but the words died in her mouth when she finally reached the unmoving lump that she had left, now slumped over himself limply.  "Shit, Spike, are you okay?" she asked, not expecting an answer and not receiving one.  "Fucking idiot.  I'll just treat your wounds right now.  You'll be a pain in the ass if you're awake anyway." Faye concluded before proceeding to work at his fly, pulling his pants down to where his clunky shoes halted further progress.  That done, she dug open her hastily tied bundle, looking for what she thought was her greatest find.  "Here it is." She pulled out an old first aid kit.  "I'm gonna be pissed if this is empty." She informed the unconscious man she was working on.  Opening it up and examining the contents with her glowing green stick, she put the stick in her mouth so that she'd be able to see better as she worked on his wound.

"Ungghhh…" Spike groaned, moving a bit and causing her to turn and confirm that he was still dead to the world.  Noting his continued state of unconsciousness, she grumbled to herself as she found a pair of forceps and some alcohol, moving closer to his wound so that she could see it better.

"Don't worry, Spike.  This'll hurt like hell." Faye reassured the unresponsive man as she poured some of the alcohol on his oozing wound to clean up a bit of the blood as well as disinfect the wound as well as she really could with what she had to work with.  Spike hissed at the pain, and for a moment she thought he was awake, but his eyes remained closed, so she leaned in, pushing her forceps into the bloody hole and searching for the bullet she knew was lost inside it somewhere.

"Fuck!  What the hell!" Spike chose that extremely inopportune moment to regain consciousness, and his sudden movement only caused the forceps to jam further into his wound.  "Dammit, what are you doing, Faye?  Trying to fucking kill me?"

"Would you knock it off?  I have to get the bullet out, idiot." Faye glared at him, pushing his shoulders back against the wall in an effort to halt his struggles.  "The more you move, the more it's gonna hurt, dumbass."

"Maybe if you weren't so fucking rough with it…" Spike grumbled, but he stayed still and allowed her to reposition herself over his leg so that she might get the bullet out.  "You know, you should really make a tourniquet so that it won't bleed as much when you pull the bullet out." Spike told her critically.  Her green eyes, only made more intense by the light of the glow stick, looked up at him angrily.

"Actually, my plan was to let you lose enough blood so that you'd be out until the Bebop came." Faye told him, her tone dangerous, but laced thickly with mocking.  "Would you let me do this?  It's got to be allowed to bleed for a little bit or the hole will get infected."

"Thanks, Doctor." Spike hissed as she turned the forceps a little more forcefully than she might have needed to.  "Watch it with those things, okay?"

"Watch your mouth and maybe I will." She shot back, finally finding what she was looking for and pulling out the little ball of metal.  "There, got it." She smiled triumphantly before dropping the obstruction and putting the forceps aside.  Reaching for the alcohol, she rinsed his wound again.

"Shit!  Dammit, Faye, that stuff fucking stings." Spike told her.

"Next time, don't get shot." She advised, already unwinding some gauze for his wound.  "Lift your leg up a bit."

"Next time, don't shoot me." He grumbled, complying with her request as she pressed a wadded bandage into his seeping wound.  "I can do that, you know.  I'm not totally fucking inept."

"Neither am I." Faye continued her task, binding his leg above the wound and working her way over it and down until she was satisfied with her dressing.  "Think of this as kind of an apology.  I didn't mean to shoot you."

"If you're trying to make it up to me, don't be so rough." He told her as she fastened the dressing, glaring up at him.  "What?  You're the worst fucking nurse I've ever had."

"I'm sure you've had your share." Faye sat back, tossing the gauze back in the kit.  "And yet, I'm somehow not entirely worried about your opinion."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he scowled at her.

"Get your pants back on." She rolled her eyes as he looked down, grumbling before grudgingly easing his pants on over the treated wound.  "You're so obnoxious."

"You're one to talk." Spike shot back. "You were fucking jabbing me before on purpose!"

"If it was on purpose, I'd still be doing it, asshole." Faye cracked her knuckles at him demonstratively.  "I wish there were some sedatives in that fucking kit so I didn't have to listen to your whiny bitching."

"You wouldn't drug me.  You don't like complaining when no one's listening." Spike dug in his pockets before pulling out his cigarettes.  Glaring at her pointedly, he pulled one out and lit it before replacing the package in his crumpled jacket.

"Not even gonna offer me one?" Faye asked, indignant.

"Get your own, you fucking mooch." Spike told her, taking a deep drag and leaning back against the wall.  "Gods, I swear you can't do a damn thing for yourself."

"I hate you." Faye hissed at him, yanking the blanket she'd found out from under the other items.  Shooting him one last glare, she wrapped herself up and lay down.  "I'm sleeping."

"Like I care." Spike responded.  Before long, they were both sleeping fitfully.

----------

"Are they here yet?" Faye mumbled groggily as she woke up.  She blinked at the dark form of the man beside her, rifling through the supplies she'd gathered.

"What, no good morning?" He asked, shaking his head in mock disapproval.  At her lack of response, he turned to her, leaving his inventory check to the side. "I told you it might be a while."

"I thought you were joking." Faye grumbled, rolling over and hitting her head on the corner of the first aid kit.  "Fuck…"

"Never were a morning person, were you?" Spike laughed, moving a bit closer with a few packages in his hands.  He dropped them all between the two of them.  "This is all the food we have, and I don't really think it's very good, so we're gonna have to hope that Jet comes for us pretty soon.  Predictably, you didn't find any water, so our main concern now is dehydration."

"What, like it's my fault that these assholes didn't leave any water for us?" Faye asked indignantly rubbing her eyes as she sat up and shivered slightly.  This ship was freezing.  At least there was a good amount of breathable air on it, but couldn't they have left the heat running when they abandoned it in the middle of a mine field?

"You cold?" Spike asked, a smile tugging at his lips at her situation.

"So what if I am?" she asked, jutting her chin out as she pulled the blanket up around her shoulders.

"That's what happens when you scamper around in nothing but your underwear everywhere you go." He teased her, leaning back against the wall and eyeing her critically as she glared at him, her fists balling up as they clutched the blanket to her tightly.

"I hate you." She told him again.  "Besides, you mean to tell me you aren't cold at all?  It's fucking freezing on this busted ass hunk of junk?"

"I'm fine." Spike told her.  "You want me to keep you warm or something?" he teased.

"Keep _yourself_ warm, dickhead." Faye snorted at him, attempting to stand but accidentally stepping on the blanket and falling back, hitting her head on the metal floor of the ship so sharply that she let out a litany of curses, and rolled on her side, reaching for the back of her head as tears sprung to her eyes.  Spike, always one to be helpful and concerned, was laughing at her hysterically.

"Really fucking smooth, Faye." He chuckled, regaining control of his mirth slowly as she continued to lie on the ground.  "Uh…Faye?"

"What?" she hissed, wincing at the pain as she tried to sit up.  She sank back to the floor, crumpling into a ball as the pain began to fade to a dull ache.

"Are you okay over there?" he asked, moving toward her.  "I mean…you went down pretty hard."

"I'm fine." She answered.  "Glad to see you're concerned."

"Lemme see your head." Spike was next to her now, his hand on her hunched shoulder as he tried to turn her to an angle where he could get a better idea of what the fall had done to her.

"You can't even see in this, so just leave me alone, asshole." Faye scrubbed at the tears that had fallen down her face, terrified of him discovering that she had cried at all.

"Bullshit." Spike got up, rummaging around until he found a glow stick and brought it back, still limping slightly before he sat down in front of her and scooped her up into a sitting position.

"Stop it." She protested, batting at his arms as the blanket fell away and he turned her easily so that her back was to him, where he could easily look at the back of her head.  She went stiff, not sure how she should feel about the fact that she was practically sitting in his lap, but after a moment, she got too dizzy to do anything but slump against him.  His fingers worked their way through her hair gingerly looking for where she'd fallen.  He found a large lump soon enough, and his suspicions were confirmed by her sharp hiss as he touched the spot cautiously.

"Quite a job you did on yourself, Faye." Spike mumbled, reaching out with one hand and just managing to pull the first aid kit over to them.  He rummaged through it, but he couldn't find anything that would help her, so he shoved the old box away.

"So, what's the prognosis, Dr. Dickface?" she asked, smiling at her own joke.  For some reason, she felt a bit woozy, and very sleepy.  Maybe it was since she was so close to Spike.  He was very warm.

"Well, you got a nasty lump." He told her, not bothering to push her away as she slumped against him more fully.  "And maybe a concussion."

"Super." She rolled her eyes and giggled slightly.  Spike quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, yeah, I'm saying you _probably_ have a concussion.  That, or there was some liquor on this ship and you've been holding out on me." Spike told her, shifting so that she wasn't laying on his arm, but falling back against his chest instead.  "That means you aren't allowed to go to sleep for a while, okay?"

"Okie dokie." Faye nodded slightly before reaching for her blanket and trying to climb out of his lap.  Spike restrained her though, preventing her escape.  "What?" she asked him.  "I'm cold."

"Here." Spike sat her up slightly before pulling off his jacket and draping it around her.  "Put this on.  You're freezing cold." His voice was softer than it usually was, and it confused Faye momentarily as she struggled to slide her arms into the baggy blue sleeves.

"It smells like you." She told him, forgetting her mission for the blanket and falling back against him with a soft thump.  "Like cigarettes.  And gunpowder.  And like…like pepper…kinda."

"Pepper?" he quirked an eyebrow at her as she rested against his chest, looking very small with his jacket draped around her pale form.  "I smell like pepper?"

"I dunno.  It's…just a smell…that's always on you." She yawned slightly, her eyes drooping closed.  "Smells good."

"Oh…" Spike's face felt warm for some reason, and somehow he didn't mind having Faye cuddled against him, drifting off to sleep.  "Oh shit." He hissed, shaking her shoulders as he lifted her up slightly.  "Wake up, Faye.  Come on, wake up."  He slapped her face sharply enough to startle her, and her eyes drifted open.

"Oh yeah." She grinned up at him.  "You said no sleeping."

"Yeah." He confirmed, sighing in relief as she attempted to support herself, unwittingly pressing one palm into his wounded thigh.  Hissing sharply, Spike, hoisted her back up so she wasn't pressing on his injury.  "Watch it, Faye."

"Oops." She grinned at him lazily.  "I forgot about your leg."

"Yeah, me too." He told her, shaking his head as he shifted her weight so that she was leaning against his chest comfortably again.  "Now don't fall asleep."

"Easy for you to say." She clutched one hand against his shirt, letting her eyes drift halfway closed.  "I'm tired."

"Too bad." He told her.  "No sleeping." He began stroking her hair unconsciously as he leaned back against the wall to get comfortable.

"Distract me then." She ordered him.  Spike's eyes went wide.

"Wh…what?" he choked the word out.

"Like…we can play a game or something." Faye elaborated, yawning again.  "You're supposed to know how to do this, dummy.  I'm the one with the concussion."

"Oh…yeah." Spike noticed his hand still moving through her hair, and stopped himself, silently cursing his hand for it's disobedience.  "A game…or something.  I only know drinking games." He admitted after a while.  "Unless you've got a deck of cards on you that I didn't know about?"

"Nope." She told him.  "Well…what's a good game…we could play truth or dare." She suggested.

"What?" Spike was immediately incredulous.  "No way.  That game's for squealing girls."

"Whatever, you couldn't think of anything either." Faye shrugged slightly against him.  Spike suddenly noticed that he could feel the hot little puffs of air against his chest every time she breathed.

"Okay then." He rolled his eyes with some effort.  "Truth or fucking dare?"

"Cute." She giggled.  "Truth."

"How old are you really?" Spike asked her after a pause.

"That's a low blow, asshole." She snickered slightly.  "Um…I'm pretty old.  Old enough to be your grandma."

"Only shows first thing in the morning." He teased her.  She batted at his face, missing and hitting his neck instead.

"I hate you, ass." She mumbled.  "Truth or dare?"

"Truth." Spike suddenly wanted a cigarette, but he realized his pack was still in his jacket, and he wasn't sure it was going to go over well if he just reached in and took them.

"How many times have you been shot?" she asked after thinking for a moment.

"Good question." Spike shrugged, thinking about it as he wrapped an arm around her so she wouldn't slide off to the side.  After all, she was still woozy.  It wasn't that he liked how she felt pressed against him or anything.  It'd just be annoying if she went into a coma in the middle of this fucked up mission.  "I don't really know.  I can tell you that I was first shot when I was twelve, though, if that gives you any sort of idea."

"Twelve?" she asked.  "Who the hell shoots a twelve year old?"

"I was a syndicate kid.  It happens all the time." He told her, looking down as she moved slightly, pulling her legs up under the warmth of the jacket.  It was kind of cute, in a way, how her whole body could fit in his jacket so easily.  Although, somehow, it seemed strange to think that anything about Faye could be called…cute.  "Truth or dare?"

"Truth." She closed her eyes as she rested her head against his chest, but he was pretty sure she wasn't going to fall asleep, so he didn't object.

"Hmm…" he tried to think of something interesting.  "Did you ever have any brothers or sisters?" he asked her.  She never talked about her past after she had remembered everything.

"Nope." She told him.  "Unless my parents decided to start up again after my accident." Faye laughed at her own comment before she cracked open one eye.  "Why?  Did you?"

"I don't know." He admitted.  "Mom put me in a foster home when I was born."

"Did you ever think about looking for your parents?" she asked.

"What for?" he wanted to know.

"Well…I don't know." Faye thought about it momentarily.  "If I had family, do you think I'd be here now?"  There was a long pause.

"You know…Faye…I don't mean to…you know." Spike suddenly felt very uncomfortable.  "I mean…I wouldn't…I don't hate you or anything."  Faye was silent for a long time, and Faye wondered if she was sleeping, but then she smiled, and her eyes opened as she lay against his chest still.

"I know." She told him.  "I can tell, you know."

"What do you mean?" he wanted to know.

"I've seen you hate people.  You don't hate me." She explained.  "That's why I came back."

"Because…I don't hate you?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah." She closed her eyes, still smiling.  "Something different, though.  Like right now.  You're worried about me, aren't you?"

"I'm not…well, I mean…you're my partner." He justified.

"Truth or dare, Spike." She looked supremely pleased with herself, and somehow it made Spike nervous.

"Truth." He answered automatically.

"If Jet fell and hit his head, would you hold him like this?" Faye asked, letting her hand wander up to his shoulder so that she was held more securely against him.

"Um…" Spike suddenly felt extremely foolish.  What the hell was he doing, anyway?  Cuddling with Faye in a dead ship?  What was wrong with him?  "You were cold."

"I have a blanket." She pointed to the forgotten piece of fabric near them.

"If…you want, you can move." Spike told her, but he didn't move the arm that was looped around her back, holding her in his lap.

"I don't mind if you don't mind." She told him.  "It is warmer this way."

"Yeah…well that was what I thought." Spike felt like an idiot, but he hoped he didn't sound like one.  "Anyway…um…truth or dare?"

"Truth." She answered, letting her eyes close again as he wrapped his other arm around her bundled up legs, trying desperately not to notice that his hand ended up on her barely exposed upper thigh.

"What's with the outfit?" he asked.  "I mean…you look like…well…um…not as respectable…as…yeah." Spike felt so ridiculous.  "It's just, I mean…I know you aren't really…like that.  I've never seen you bring a guy back to the ship…and…yeah."

"I thought it would be obvious enough to you." She told him.  "I mean, when you make a living taking down dirtbags, wouldn't you want to be able to use everything you can to have the advantage in a fight, right?  I have my girlish figure, and it works damn well."

"Yeah." Spike was wondering how her skin could be even smoother than her leggings, and he suddenly realized that she could probably feel that he was caressing her thigh, so he stopped suddenly, "Um…I mean…uh, that makes sense."  He gulped, glad that she couldn't see his blush in the dark.  He'd never live that down.  "So…um, truth or dare?"

"Was Julia your first?" Faye asked after some deliberation.

"My…oh…um." Spike didn't know how comfortable he felt talking about this kind of thing.  "No."

"Details." She prompted.  "I want my question's worth of interesting information."

"You only get one question." He told her grudgingly.  "So…yeah, truth or dare."

"Fine.  Truth." She pouted slightly, though he couldn't really see her effectively tucked up against his chest.

"Um…are you wearing underwear?" Spike couldn't believe he could make himself feel more idiotic, but he'd just succeeded at doing exactly that.  "No, I mean…cause it's such a skimpy outfit…I always wondered…since you know, I never see it.  So yeah…"

"Yes.  I am wearing underwear." Faye resisted the urge to giggle, but she lost eventually, shaking with silent mirth against Spike's chest.

"Stop it." He nudged her.  "It's not funny."

"Yes it is!" she giggled outright now.

"Shut up and ask me a different question." He sulked.

"Okay, okay." Faye cleared her throat to stop giggling.  "Um…so, who was your first if it wasn't the wonderful miss Julia?"

"God, are we _still_ on that?" he groaned.

"What's the problem?" she wanted to know.

"Fine.  Her name was Lola.  She was some floozy I'd never look at twice these days.  But I wasn't old enough to know better.  So we had some fun." Spike explained.

"Lola?" Faye was giggling again.  "Did _she_ wear underwear?"

"I hate you." Spike sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Then stop rubbing my leg." She told him.

"Oh…um…whoops." Spike coughed slightly and consciously stopped the movement of his rebellious hand.  He was having that problem a lot lately, it seemed.  "Sorry."

"I'm used to being groped, don't worry about it." Faye sighed slightly.  "At least you aren't some old grease-ball."

"You know…most girls would just…slap me for doing that." Spike pointed out.

"Mmm." She agreed.  "But then you'd kick me out of your lap, and we were having such a nice moment."

"Were we?" Spike asked, gulping slowly.  Suddenly, something about this situation seemed to be out of his control.

"If you want me to move…" Faye shifted slightly.

"No, that's fine." Spike stopped her. "Can I ask a question?"

"It's your turn." She told him.

"I don't want you to take this the wrong way…" Spike was already feeling foolish.  He was not doing well at all, it seemed.  Perhaps this game wasn't his strength.  "I just…um…do you like…have a thing for me?"

"Why would you ask me that?" Faye answered after an interminable silence.

"I don't know…sometimes…you say things…and I think…" Spike felt like the world's biggest asshole at that moment.  "Nevermind."  There was a long pause, and Spike thought he could feel her cheeks warming against his chest.

"Kinda." She told him.  "I guess I do.  It's really stupid, since you're so stuck on Julia, but hey, in my defense, you're probably the first guy I've known to treat me as more than some kind of sex pot."

"I make fun of you all the time." He pointed out.

"I make fun of you too." She replied.  "That doesn't mean I don't like you."

"I guess." He tilted his head down, trying to understand Faye better.  It wasn't working.

"Thanks." She sighed after a moment.

"For what?" he wanted to know.

"Not kicking me out of your lap." Faye dared a glance up at him. "It bothers you to know, doesn't it?"

"Why should it?" he asked.  "I had my suspicions already, and it didn't bother me then."

"How could you tell?" she wanted to know.  "I thought I was being pretty sneaky."

"Sometimes you watch me for a long time, but you don't say anything." Spike answered after thinking for a while.  "That was when I first started to think something was up.  So then I paid more attention, you know.  And I noticed that even though we always argue, you still talk to me more than anyone else on the ship.  Plus, you always say thanks when I give you a cigarette.  You never say thanks to anyone."

"Really?" Faye thought about this momentarily.  "I think you pay more attention to me than I do."

"You're pretty easy to catch on to." Spike shrugged.  "That's all I'm saying."

"So…lemme get this clear.  I look at you, I talk to you, and I say thanks to you.  So that told you I've got some thing for you." Faye clarified.

"Why are you fighting me on this?" Spike asked.  "You just told me it's true."

"Ah, I see." She sounded very dignified for someone who'd just laid their emotions bare.

"That, and you like how I smell even though I've been running around all day after that damn bounty." He smiled slightly.  "Anyone who doesn't mind the sweaty smell must have ulterior motives."

"The sweat smells like you." She pointed out.

"I smell like sweat?" he asked, disgusted.

"Um…sometimes." She admitted.  "But not in a bad way.  And anyways, you smell nice now.  I like it."

"I've never seen you like this before." Spike told her after some time, not really worried that she would fall asleep anymore.  She seemed to be a little more lucid now anyway, even if she was being very…affectionate.

"Don't get used to it." She responded.  "I can't be like this normally."

"Why not?" Spike wanted to know.

"You wouldn't put up with it." She looked up at him as though this should be perfectly obvious.  "Besides, it would give you an advantage."

"You think that?" Spike reached up, stroking her hair as he let his eyes slip closed.

"That feels nice." Faye told him, snuggling deeper into his lap.  "Am I allowed to sleep yet?"

"I don't know." He told her.  "Hey, Faye."

"Yeah?" she yawned stretching her arms before returning them to their positions, one keeping the jacket closed, the other holding his shoulder.

"Can you reach that blanket?" he asked her.  She reached, pulling it to them.  Spike moved, laying down and pulling her down with him, both of them pulling the blanket over their bodies, still close together.  Spike lay behind Faye, his arms wrapped around her waist.  "I wish we had a pillow." Spike spoke up after they had settled down to rest.

"It's warmer this way." She responded, turning toward him and reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair.  It was surprisingly soft, and this fascinated Faye.  "Your hair is really soft."

"That does feel nice." Spike let his eyes close again, and this time, he let her fingers lull him to sleep.

*****

The End


End file.
